The Mets’ affiliates played just three games on Sunday, as Syracuse had a rainout. A day after each of the affiliates won, it was another successful day where two of the Mets’ three minor league teams won their games on Sunday. Only Binghamton couldn’t grab the win, losing by just one run.
Two of the performances of note on Sunday were by a couple of the Mets’ top prospects, Ryan Clifford and Colin Houck. Between the two of them, they recorded five runs and six walks in their respective games. They haven’t had the kind of offensive start to the season that they would hope for, but as of late, they’re starting to see the ball much better at the plate, and that continued Sunday.
The Syracuse Mets (10-9) had their game with the Charlotte Knights (8-12) canceled due to rain. The game will not be made up, as the Mets and Knights don’t play again for the remainder of the first half of the season.
Kevin Parada. Photo by Bronson Harris of Binghamton Rumble Ponies
Reading Fightin Phils (6-9) 5, Binghamton Rumble Ponies (6-8) 4
The Rumble Ponies had a chance to win the series against the Fightin Phils, heading into Sunday’s game, ahead in the series 3-2. They came close as they held an early 3-1 lead, but two late runs by Reading gave them the lead, causing a series tie. Reading scored first with a run in the second inning, but that didn’t last long as Binghamton tacked on three in the third. Jett Williams hit his third double of the year to drive in a batter, while Rhylan Thomas and Jose Peroza also recorded RBIs in the inning.
The game quickly tied back up in the next half inning, but again, the Rumble Ponies rallied to retake the lead, this time on a Kevin Parada single. The Rumble Ponies couldn’t hold their one-run lead, as the Fightin Phils added two in the seventh and held on from there.
The pitching staff was victim to poor defense in this game, as they only allowed two earned runs while the other three were unearned. Blade Tidwell didn’t start but went four innings. He pitched well but recorded the loss, allowing just one earned run over those four innings. His ERA now sits at 1.84 on the season. Paul Gervase also pitched well out of the pen, allowing one baserunner and recording all of his outs via the strikeout.
Ryan Clifford, Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
Brooklyn Cyclones (7-8) 5, Jersey Shore BlueClaws (8-7) 2
A simple look at the box score will show that the Cyclones won this game on good plate discipline and a lack of control from the Jersey Shore pitching staff. Three batters walked at least twice, and two walked more than three times. Brooklyn batters walked a total of 11 times while recording just four hits. Only one of the team’s five runs was driven in on a hit, while the other four were via sacrifice fly (twice) or a passed ball (twice).
Ryan Clifford walked a whopping four times in five plate appearances, raising his season on-base percentage to .415 despite a .240 batting average. He currently has the second-highest batting average on the Cyclones behind Nick Lorusso (.256), a testament to how hard offense has been to come by for Brooklyn. Still, the team will take wins where they can get them, and they grabbed one on Sunday.
In addition to poor Jersey Shore pitching, the Cyclones were able to win due to strong pitching of their own. Brandon Sproat pitched well in three innings and has a 1.86 ERA. Ben Simon followed him out of the bullpen and pitched three innings, recording the win. The final innings were as easy as they could get, as Josh Hejka, Jeffrey Colon, and Joshua Cornielly combined for three hitless innings, allowing just one baserunner in that span.
Colin Houck, Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
Tampa Tarpons (4-11) 4, St. Lucie Mets (7-8) 8
This game was arguably over from the start, as the Mets scored all eight runs in the first two innings. They started with three runs in the first inning and added five more in the second. That gave them an extremely comfortable 8-0 lead, and though they were shut out the rest of the game, St. Lucie still won comfortably. Tampa added four runs, including two in the ninth, but they never truly threatened to win this game.
The top two in the Mets’ lineup, Colin Houck and J.D. Martinez, were impressive as they combined for three hits (two for extra bases) and four runs. Of course, Martinez won’t be able to mash with Low-A forever. The big league club has plans to transfer his rehab assignment to Triple-A before he hopefully makes his Mets major league debut later in the week. Houck impressed, hitting in front of him as he hit a triple and drew two walks.
While the final six offensive innings were quiet for St. Lucie, the lineup did more than enough in the first two innings.
The pitching staff was up and down, but Kade Morris started the day with three hitless innings. He walked three, which is never ideal, but he didn’t allow any runs to come across. His ERA for the season now sits at 1.42. He also struck out two batters in his performance. Franklin Gomez followed Morris out of the bullpen and had a rougher go of it. He allowed six men to reach base (three walks, two hits, one hit-by-pitch) and allowed two runs to come across. A positive note from his outing is that he struck out more than one batter an inning, recording three over his 2 1/3 innings of work.
Juan Arnaud quieted down the Tarpons’ offense with 1 2/3 scoreless innings and was rewarded with his first win of the year. He has now thrown 4 1/3 scoreless innings to begin the season, but his 1.62 WHIP suggests that might change soon. Jimmy Loper was called on to pitch the final two innings, and like Gomez, he had a bumpy outing. He also allowed two runs on three hits and recorded one strikeout. Considering the size of the Mets’ lead, the pitching staff could afford to give up a few runs, so the outings by Gomez and Loper didn’t come back to bite the team.
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